News: Carecloud partners with FIU's master's program

A national manager of online medical records has partnered with Florida International University’s new master's degree program on digital healthcare data.

CareCloud, a Miami-area company, is providing FIU’s Healthcare Informatics and Management Systems free use of its medical-data software, including mock patient records, test results and other electronic files that are replacing traditional medical paperwork. The FIU course is designed to use digital medical data to improve care and efficiency. Medical professionals make up the inaugural class for FIU’s Healthcare Informatics program.

“The students represent the next wave of healthcare professionals who will demand all technology be as intuitive and easy to use as Facebook and Twitter,’’ CareCloud CEO Albert Santalo said in a press release announcing the deal with FIU.

CareCloud stores medical records for clients in massive hard drives and servers in its headquarters in the Blue Lagoon commercial district, allowing providers to access their records on a “cloud” computer system that frees offices from storing digital records onsite. The company is benefiting from a push by medical offices to switch from paper to digital records, a shift fueld in part by stimulus incentives and Washington requirements for Medicare billings.

Added Neera Bhansali, FIU’s director of the Informatics program, in an interview: “We are preparing our students for the changes that are coming through.”